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A single mum has been fined £1,000 after she 'fly-tipped' an envelope next to the full communal bins she shares with more than 20 other households. Loretta Alvarez, 26, said all of the bins were full when she placed the envelope on top of a pile of cardboard next to the bins. Weeks later, she is being threatened with legal action if she doesn't stump up the four-figure sum. Hounslow Council told Loretta that she had until Wednesday (November 5) to make the payment in full, or she would face legal proceedings - and could be charged with a criminal offence. Wednesday came and went, but she didn't pay because she doesn't have the cash. Loretta, from Feltham, west London, said: "I'm a single mum working as a mental health nurse. I pay all my rent, council tax and bills, I can't afford to pay that. I would never intentionally do that. "It's been so stressful, I didn't want this to happen, I wouldn't want it to happen to someone else. I've been trying to juggle this alongside work, being a mum, it's been hard." She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she is concerned that this could affect her future employment and DBS checks. She said: "I don't have that money to give, and I can't afford getting into debt to pay it, and I don't want to get a mark on my record. "I'm a mental health nurse, I went to university for three years… they're fining me more than someone gets for speeding." A desperate Loretta added: "If all of that [including the stack of cardboard] was mine, would I really go to the press about it?" LDRS understand that following enquiries, Hounslow Council has put the fine on hold while it looked into the situation further. However, it hasn't been cancelled and the council has since doubled down on the reasoning for the fine. In a statement, Councillor Pritam Grewal (Lab), cabinet member for community safety, customer experience and enforcement, said: "We remain committed to taking a zero-tolerance approach to littering and protecting the local environment. "We are clear that we have done the right thing in dealing with this, and issuing the fine, because littering includes leaving waste anywhere in public apart from in a bin, regardless of whether bins are full. While we accept that no one likes receiving a fine, residents expect us to tackle the offence and the offenders. "As well as making our streets look neglected, it is not fair that Hounslow Council's taxpayers have to foot the bill for littering and fly-tipping. Such costs could be spent on delivering vital services for our residents." Loretta shares six large communal bins with more than two dozen other households. These are collected once a week, but she revealed that it is common for the bins to overflow before they are collected. She would like the Labuor-run council to provide better bins for the tenants. She said: "It does feel like they are targeting me. It's Christmas coming up, I don't have £1,000 lying around, not many people do, there are more important things they should be dealing with than an envelope. "The bins are literally a few steps away from my front door, if anything I've littered, which I'll apologise for. I've seen people dumping cabinets - that's fly tipping, this isn't." In the streets surrounding Loretta's home, several dumped bags of waste could be spotted, alongside a discarded fridge. The LDRS understands that details on the envelope identified Loretta, but there was no identifying detail on the other cardboard she says was left by other residents. Loretta went to the council offices to try to resolve the matter. However, when she arrived, she says she was told no one from the environmental team was in the building. Eventually, a council officer told her that from the photographic evidence submitted, it is clear that the bins were full. However she claims she was also told, separately, that the council would take her circumstances into consideration. The mum was then told that everyone has to be treated equally, and she therefore must pay the £1,000 fine. Loretta said: "Clearly they don't take it into consideration then. I even asked to set up a payment plan, they said no."
